Another hour in the ivory tower

Of all the mistakes it’s possible to make, and barriers that stand in our way, I reckon there’s four things that prevent most solo pros from being as successful as they could be.

The (overdramatically named) Four Horseman of the solopreneurial apocalypse.

💻 Technocrastination (we’re at War with our tech)
💸 Salesphobia (we go from feast to Famine in sales)
✨ Perfectionism (our unrealistic standards lead to a creative Pestilence)
🥸 Imposter Syndrome (our lack of self belief is the Death of our business)

Let’s talk a bit about number three: Perfectionism.

I’ve been mentoring solo pro’s for a decade, and it’s a method of self-sabotage so ubiquitous I can basically guarantee you do it too. You’re probably doing it now! It’s costing you lots of time, plenty of money, and immeasurable amounts in lost opportunity costs.

You’re wasting hour after hour locked in an ivory tower.

See, one thing I know about smart people is that being smart usually isn’t enough, we want to make sure we soundsmart too.

We’re loathe to share things we’re working on. We want to tinker away at our projects in a near-neverending quest to produce the most profound, impactful and incredible creations. We love to problem-solve, grinding away, crafting our wares until they’re absolutely perfect.

The issue is, insight can’t be produced in a vacuum. If you want to help people solve their problems, at some point you’re gonna need to expose your mind (and your possible solutions) to those people and their problems.

There’s a pithy piece of advice I’ve given so frequently over the last ten years that at this point I might as well have it recorded so I can just press play every time I need to say it.

The business of a successful solo-pro is a co-creation between the person building it and the people buying it.

You don’t create something, and then sell it to people. You create it with them. Don’t spend a year creating version 1.0 before you sell it. Sell them version 0.1 so that their experiences, feedback, and ideas can be incorporated into it. Iterate through versions 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and onwards, refining every step of the way based on the successes and failures of the people you’re working with.

A year later version 1.0 will still be ready just as it would have been had you been locked away, but in this timeline it’ll be a far better product. More importantly, you’ll have a small tribe of deeply engaged early-adopters who are enthusiastically talking about the thing they helped build to anyone who will listen. Oh, and you’ll have been getting paid the whole time, too.

Of all the unhelpful character traits it’s possible to be cursed with, perfectionism is one of the most prevalent in the world of intelligent solo pro’s.

Don’t spend another hour in your ivory tower. Share what you’ve done so far with someone and see if they find it useful.

Like Marvin K. Mooney, will you…

🙏 Please.
🫵 Go.
⏱️ Now.

…and share something with the world.